With one of the most irritating characters, played by James Mitchum. He's supposed to be a wet behind the ears rookie, but he's just stupid and mouthy and doesn't do anything he's told.
The rest are all supposed to be seasoned soldiers, but they keep heaping stupid mistakes one on top of another, starting with their approach to a beach that has fishing boats and is therefore not at all discreet. This on a secret mission where their presence must not be detected. They compound that by not properly disposing of their inflatables.
Moving away, they come across a group of Japanese soldiers and decide to kill them rather than go round them. But do they observe the enemy first, to properly weigh up the situation? No, they go wading in and kill all three. But wait a minute, there are 4 rifles - we've missed one! So they go searching in the jungle and the mission leader is killed before they can dispose of number 4.
They can't even stage an ambush properly, shooting the front two but allowing the rest of the small group to run into the jungle and stage a firefight. Then taking on the group's tank, a team member places explosives but instead of running back under cover and waiting for the explosion, he runs straight into the tank's firing line and is gunned down.
The film goes on in this vein until they meet their contact and urgently need to get a message to MacArthur's attack force. So where's the radio that Mitchum has been told to keep attached to him at all times. Oh, it's been all shot up. But Mitchum is unscathed, because he'd taken the radio off and left it in the firing line. I think at that point, if I'd been the sergeant I've have shot him myself!
There's more, but I think you've got the picture. The message of courage and sacrifice could have been made into a much better film, but unfortunately it's all very slapdash... and irritating!
Only for those who want action where you can laugh at the silliness.
The rest are all supposed to be seasoned soldiers, but they keep heaping stupid mistakes one on top of another, starting with their approach to a beach that has fishing boats and is therefore not at all discreet. This on a secret mission where their presence must not be detected. They compound that by not properly disposing of their inflatables.
Moving away, they come across a group of Japanese soldiers and decide to kill them rather than go round them. But do they observe the enemy first, to properly weigh up the situation? No, they go wading in and kill all three. But wait a minute, there are 4 rifles - we've missed one! So they go searching in the jungle and the mission leader is killed before they can dispose of number 4.
They can't even stage an ambush properly, shooting the front two but allowing the rest of the small group to run into the jungle and stage a firefight. Then taking on the group's tank, a team member places explosives but instead of running back under cover and waiting for the explosion, he runs straight into the tank's firing line and is gunned down.
The film goes on in this vein until they meet their contact and urgently need to get a message to MacArthur's attack force. So where's the radio that Mitchum has been told to keep attached to him at all times. Oh, it's been all shot up. But Mitchum is unscathed, because he'd taken the radio off and left it in the firing line. I think at that point, if I'd been the sergeant I've have shot him myself!
There's more, but I think you've got the picture. The message of courage and sacrifice could have been made into a much better film, but unfortunately it's all very slapdash... and irritating!
Only for those who want action where you can laugh at the silliness.